Where are all the voters? In the new power cities: Keller, Colleyville, Grapevine | Opinion
Early voting ends Tuesday, and so far here’s what we know about The Forgotten Election:
▪ The north Tarrant County suburbs didn’t forget.
The county’s new political power cities, Colleyville and Keller, have combined for more votes (3,462 going into Friday) than the entire city of Arlington (3,331).
Grapevine, Colleyville and Keller have the busiest voting boxes and longest lines.
The Keller school district, which mostly covers north Fort Worth, has drawn 3,179 voters. Add in the strife-torn Carroll and Grapevine-Colleyville schools, and they’ve seen almost as many voters (7,982) as all of Fort Worth (8,389).
Voting in Colleyville and the Grapevine-Colleyville school district is about 20% ahead of 2021.
But with only thin competition for mayor, Fort Worth and Arlington city council voting is about 50% behind.
Who’s developing the next generation of campaigners, strategists and leaders?
Not the cities with forgotten elections.
▪ If you want to beat the lines, look in south Tarrant County.
The box at 4500 Longhorn Trail in south Fort Worth near Crowley is averaging only 10 voters per day. (Any voter can cast a ballot anywhere in Tarrant County.)
The next smallest turnout is in small towns such as Edgecliff Village, Blue Mound and Azle, along with city facilities in the Diamond Hill and Worth Heights neighborhoods in Fort Worth.
All will be open daily through Tuesday. For the hours, addresses and complete list, see tarrantcounty.com/elections.
▪ I know. The ads are weird.
And they went weird early.
In one ad, the Fort Worth Republican Women’s Club political action committee supports two city council candidates and two Fort Worth school board candidates warning: “Don’t Let Fort Worth Become the Next Austin!”
The ad quotes a news report by now-retired NBC5 reporter Scott Gordon accusing city leaders of “not supporting police.”
Except Gordon didn’t report that.
He was indirectly quoting County Commissioner Manny Ramirez.
Why not attribute the quote honestly to Ramirez?
It probably carries more weight coming from Ramirez, the police labor leader, than from a reporter.
▪ An ad in a northwest Fort Worth council race criticizes “crony downtown insiders.”
The ad is from a political action committee, CORE PAC, that has yet to file a state ethics report listing its own crony insiders.
CORE PAC also has mailed a “Conservative Voter Guide” endorsing eight candidates. The lists include District 7 candidate Jason Ellis, facing Caleb Backholm and Macy Hill for an open seat. It’s the busiest city election so far.
No surprise: CORE PAC is run by the political consultant for Ellis.
▪ I won’t even begin to sort out the volatile school board campaigns, where a Grapevine cellphone company’s PAC is now supporting candidates in Fort Worth along with Grapevine-Colleyville and Keller.
But if you want to know who paid for an ad that came in the mail or popped up on social media, look at the fine print.
Every ad has to say who paid.
Then you have to track down the money.
For PACs such as the CORE PAC or Colleyville-led Fort Worth Excellence PAC, start by searching reports at the Texas Ethics Commission website and list of PACs.
For local candidates’ campaign finance reports, check the city, school district or local agency website, or ask the city secretary.
Fort Worth council candidates report donations at fortworthtexas.gov/departments/citysecretary/elections.
New reports will be posted Monday and again over election weekend May 6.
▪ All these ads won’t stop anytime soon.
The runoff election will start in late May. It will end June 10.
Figure on more mailers and fewer voters.
